December 11, 2025 |
Extreme Cashmere’s new flagship at 152 Mercer Street in SoHo, New York, makes a beguilingly different debut. Part living room, part atelier and wholly inviting, the Amsterdam-born label’s first North American space feels less like a store and more like an exquisite study in calm; it’s a place where time slows and luxury is quietly redefined.
After the overwhelming success of last year’s Big Apple pop-up, founder Saskia Dijkstra knew New York would be her brand’s new home. “Our pop-up on Madison Avenue was so successful, it only felt right to make the city a more permanent home for us,” she says.
In the heart of Lower Manhattan, the shop’s interior, a space imagined by architect and designer Hidde Dijkstra, arrives like an eclectic home rather than a boutique. Beneath a plush expanse of wall-to-wall vibrant green carpet, vintage and contemporary pieces such as a 1970s Italian coffee table sourced from Marché aux Puces in Paris are paired with steel-frame Milo Baughman chairs in poppy-printed upholstery and soft ceiling lights by Molo.
to create intimate vignettes that allure you to sit down and stay awhile. Meanwhile sculptural works and Korean ceramics punctuate the room like treasured objects nestled within a private residence. “We always want to bring our home everywhere we go,” Dijkstra explains. “We take furniture from our Amsterdam office to our Paris showrooms all the time, and the store in New York is no different. This approach really works for us, we want to make the store feel homey and make people feel as comfortable in the space as they feel in our sweaters.”
There are no towering clothing racks shouting for attention, no bright signage begging for a swipe of the credit card. Instead, garments, each cut to be timeless, tactile and unisex, nestle quietly in bespoke floor-to-ceiling closets. Lounge areas feel like favourite corners for conversation. It’s an environment that rewards presence over pace. “It’s nice to be able to touch the fabric and fit different styles,” Dijkstra says of the in-store experience. “People can really find the pieces that make them feel best.”
Cashmere may be a luxury staple, but for Dijkstra it’s deeply personal. After over three decades in cashmere production, she knows the fibre intimately. “I learned, really, everything about it during that time,” she says. “Cashmere is a very versatile fibre. [It] has this power of just making you feel better… It’s really magical.”
Dijkstra explains that Extreme Cashmere was brought to life from her simple wish “to create a sweater that makes anyone feel good the moment they put it on”. She continues, “That idea really shaped our mantra: for everybody and every body.” Core pieces, from the beloved Crew Hop to the travel-ready Juna and the effortlessly chic Oversize Xtra, embody this sensibility. Dijkstra herself rarely travels without the Juna. “It’s what you want to wear right when you wake up in the morning or when you’re just having an easy-going comfortable day,” she says.
The brand is growing gracefully. “Since the Madison Avenue pop-up, we realised the true potential of interacting with our customer directly,” Dijkstra says. “We spent a lot of time building a strong base, and now that we are expanding into retail, the brand is growing very fast.” While plans for more physical spaces are underway, with an aim for six stores worldwide, the brand also has a strong desire to preserve the sanctuary emulated by its stores.
In this serene corner of SoHo, the store is not simply selling cashmere, it’s exhibiting how clothes and the spaces that hold them can be integrated into daily life with intention, care and a palpable sense of comfort. Here, the act of shopping feels more like a dialogue where you touch, try and consider, ultimately, slowing down and staying for a while. “We’ve even had customers just come in, flip through the books and leave again,” Dijkstra notes.
In a city that is perpetually in a hurry, this Extreme Cashmere store feels like a pause that New York didn’t know that it needed.
Photography courtesy of Extreme Cashmere.
